The use of communication networks and devices, including telephones, pagers, facsimile machines, computers and network access appliances, has increased exponentially in recent years. In many areas and communities, this increased demand for voice and data communication services has outpaced the growth in the public infrastructure required to support these services.
One possible solution to the above problem is the use of conventional public or private wireless networks. However, this approach is not wholly satisfactory for a number of reasons. A fundamental drawback to the use of conventional wireless networks is the cost associated with radios or user equipment terminals (UEs) capable of communicating with conventional GSM (Global Systems for Mobile communication), GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) or 3G (third generation cellular) wireless networks. Although the expense of these UEs is generally not borne by a service provider of a wireless network providing voice and/or data communication to a community, it will be appreciated that higher costs translates to fewer potential subscribers. Thus, it is less likely the service provider would be willing to bear the expense of installing necessary base stations and switching centers in the community.
Another problem in areas or communities that are under served by an existing wireless network, is the difficulty and expense of scaling the network to provide services to additional users or additional services. For example, the typical approach used by wireless network service providers to provide increased capacity, is to install additional base stations and switching centers. As noted above, due to the expense this is unacceptable in certain rural or impoverished areas and communities. Moreover, this is also unacceptable in many developed and urban areas, where overcrowding of the licensed frequency bands leads to diminishing increases in capacity for additional base stations and switching centers due to interference with overlapping base stations.
Accordingly, there is a need for an inexpensive communication system and method of operating the same, that are capable of providing voice and high speed data communication to users in communities hitherto un-served or under served by conventional communication systems. There is a further need for a communication system and method of operating the same that can be quickly and inexpensively scaled up to provide service to increasing numbers of users. There is a still further need for a communication system and method of operating the same that provides a high capacity for voice and data communication.
The system and method of the present invention provides these and other advantages over the prior art.